Multi-carrier modulation systems divide a transmitted bit stream into many different substreams, which are then sent over many different subchannels. Typically the subchannels are orthogonal under ideal propagation conditions. The data rate on each of the subchannels is much less than the total data rate, and the corresponding subchannel bandwidth is much less than the total system bandwidth. The number of substreams is chosen to ensure that each subchannel has a bandwidth less than the coherence bandwidth of the channel, so the subchannels experience relatively flat fading. This makes the inter symbol interference (ISI) on each subchannel small.
In more complex systems, which are commonly called orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems (or multi-carrier or discrete multi-tone modulation systems), data is distributed over a large number of carriers (e.g., dozens or thousands) that are spaced apart at precise frequencies. The frequency spacing provides the “orthogonality,” which prevents the demodulators from seeing frequencies other than their own. The benefits of OFDM are high spectral efficiency, resiliency to RF interference, and lower multi-path distortion. This is useful because in a typical terrestrial wireless transmission scenario there are multipath-channels (i.e. the transmitted signal arrives at the receiver using various paths of different length). Since multiple versions of the signal interfere with each other through inter symbol interference (ISI), it becomes very hard for the receiver to extract the originally transmitted data.
In one example of an OFDM transmitter, the data transfer process begins by encoding the data. The encoded data is often grouped in frames, where a frame represents a time-slice of the data to be transmitted. Bits or symbols from the frames are assigned to the subchannels based on the number of bits/symbols that each subchannel can support, and the subchannels are encoded by creating a frequency-domain vector set. Frequency-domain vectors in the vector set use phase and magnitude components to encode the values of the bits. An Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) performs a frequency-to-time conversion of the frequency-domain vectors, resulting in digital time-domain information. A digital-to-analog converter (DAC) then converts the digital information to an analog signal for transmission (i.e., a transmit signal). The signal for transmission can then be transmitted by a transmitter, by either a wireline or a wireless transmitter. Many communications standards define the average power requirement of the signal for transmission, and in order to satisfy the power requirement, an amplifier is required.
OFDM/OFDMA technology has been adopted for use in various digital communications standards (e.g., IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.16e). Because the OFDM transmit signal is the sum of a large number of subcarriers, it may have a high peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR). In the transmit signal, peaks occur when the vectors in the frequency-domain vector set are combined through the IFFT. Each frequency-domain vector contributes to the magnitude of the time-domain signal, and if the frequency-domain vectors are such that their contributions are concentrated in one area of the time-domain signal, peaks can result.
One problem with transmitting a signal with a relatively high peak-to-average ratio is that portions of the signal may exceed a limited linear operating range of the transmitter (or the power amplifier in the transmitter), which can cause distortion, and, in turn, problems in the receiver with decoding the user data. Additionally, it can be costly to design and manufacture a power amplifier with a larger linear operating region. Some of the cost increase can be associated with the costs of more expensive higher quality components and higher capacity power supplies.